GADGETWISE; Animation Made Easy, Right From Your Phone

By ROY FURCHGOTT

Published: June 21, 2012

Jittergram is a nifty free app that helps you make and share simple stop-motion animations using an iPhone. It's pretty easy to use, but not so easy that it couldn't benefit from some instructions.

The app was built in a weekend for Photo Hack Day in New York, said Andy Mangold, a co-founder of Friends of the Web, which created the app. ''We didn't have time to do instructions over the weekend, and we didn't want to invest the time in making the instructions afterward,'' he said.

But he was willing to give some tips over the phone, so here is your semi-official guide.

First, Jittergram has two settings. In one, you make a digital lenticular 3-D image - that's the fancy name for those pictures under a plastic lens that makes the image shift when you tilt it. The other setting is for making stop-motion animations. It's great for animated GIFs.

The first important thing to know is the button on the lower right of the Jittergram screen is in fact a button, not an indicator. So it shows the opposite of the mode you are in. When it shows an infinity symbol, you are ready to shoot the lenticular 3-D. When it shows a 2, it's set for stop-motion animation.

Lenticular 3-D

The trick to getting a good image is to pick one element of the photo to be stationary, while others shift. When you snap your first picture you will see a ghostly image of that shot. Use that transparent image to line up the next shot, with some object remaining in the same place, and the other objects in a different place. ''Move the camera on the phone much less than you think you have to,'' said Mr. Mangold. Click the second shot and the animated result will appear. You can now send it by e-mail, post it to Twitter or save it.

Stop Motion

This kind of animation lets you make a mini movie, by taking single images then playing them back in a rapid sequence, much like a flip book.

With the 2 button showing, position the camera in a fixed position. A tripod would help, like the Joby GorillaMobile. Take a shot, and use the ghostly image to move the object you are animating to its next position. You can take as many photos as your phone's memory will allow. When done, click the check mark, and you'll see what you've shot.

This is how Ray Harryhausen made his famous effects for films like the original Clash of the Titans. Practice a bit and you can release your own Kraken.

You can save or share it, as with the lenticular 3-D shot. If you want to send your animation by e-mail, you have two options: actual size or small. Use actual size, or it sends only a single image, not an animation.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.